A wealth of information is available on the Internet, and particularly that segment of the Internet referred to generally as the World Wide Web. However, despite vast improvements in search engines, finding the particular information that one is interested in can still be a challenging and time-consuming task. Perhaps even more frustrating is the lack of tools available to enable a user to retrieve previously searched for and discovered information. In the realm of search and retrieval, search engines aid in the search but leave much to be desired when it comes to information retrieval.
One common mechanism used for information retrieval is referred to generally as a Bookmark. A bookmark is a mechanism or function enabling a user to save a copy of a uniform resource locator (URL). For example, if a user finds an article of interest at a URL for an “interesting article”, the user can save the URL as a bookmark so that at a later time the user can simply select (e.g., with a mouse or other pointing device) the bookmark to reload the document associated with the URL. The user might choose to categorize the bookmarks. Traditionally, bookmarks have been facilitated by a web browser application and stored at the computer on which the web browser application resides. However, more recently online bookmarking services have provided users with a way to store bookmarks online, making the bookmarks accessible from any network-connected computer.
As a means of information retrieval, bookmarks have several shortcomings. One problem with bookmarks is they provide little, if any, explanation or context as to what it is about the associated document that may be significant. For instance, a bookmark simply associates a URL with a document. A user may generate a bookmark for a particular web page because of a single passage in an article, or a particular blog entry on a web page with many blog entries. When the user retrieves the web page at a later time by means of selecting the bookmark, the user may not be able to remember what it is that is significant about the web page and why he or she generated the bookmark in the beginning.
Another problem with bookmarks is that they become stale, and in some cases expire, over time. For instance, an internet document may change between the time that a user generates a bookmark, and then revisits the associated web page at a later time. In some cases, a URL may expire altogether. For example, the document associated with the URL may be removed from the server such that the URL returns an error message indicating the document no longer exists.
Another problem with bookmarks is they are a less than ideal mechanism for sharing information. For example, to share information with a bookmark facilitated by a web browser application, a user must generally email the bookmark to another user. When the recipient receives the email including the bookmark, the user must select the link—if the bookmark is implemented as a user-selectable link—in order to initiate loading of the associated document in the user's web browser application. Often the bookmark is not a user-selectable link. In this case, the user must copy-and-paste, or type, the corresponding URL of the bookmark into the address bar of the web browser application. The copy-and-paste method sometimes does not work because of special characters, such as carriage return and line feed characters inserted by email programs, in the URL. In any case, the additional steps required to access the relevant document are often viewed as burdensome. Often it is only the most determined individuals who end up going through the process necessary to load the relevant document. When the relevant document is finally loaded into and displayed by the recipient's web browser, the recipient of the bookmark may not appreciate the relevance of the associated document. Thus, improved tools for information retrieval and collaboration are needed.
Web-based content providers, such as news websites and/or blog websites often provide users with a button enabling the user to generate and send an email including a hyperlink back to a news story or blog entry, or a copy of the news story or blog entry embedded in the email. Accordingly, if a friend would like to share a news story from a news website or a blog entry from a blog website, the user can simply press (e.g., with a mouse or pointing device) a graphical user interface button to generate an email with an embedded copy of, or a link to, the relevant web page. The recipient of the email can then view the relevant web page, either directly in the email, or by selecting a hyperlink in the email.
Sharing content in this manner has a few drawbacks. First, because many websites generate emails that only include a hyperlink back to a relevant web page, as opposed to an embedded copy of the relevant web page, recipients of such emails must go through the process of loading the relevant web page by selecting, copying and pasting, or typing the relevant URL of the hyperlink. This means that a recipient of the email must select (e.g., with a mouse or pointing device) the hyperlink in the email in order to retrieve the relevant article with his or her web browser application. Many users would rather not be bothered with this extra step. Furthermore, after the recipient has retrieved the relevant web page with a web browser, he or she may still not appreciate the relevance of the specific content. That is, the recipient may not understand or realize the significance of the web page as a whole, and therefore may not spend the time necessary to read and understand the content.